In the formation of many types of semiconductor devices, a layer of an organic material called BARC (which is an abbreviation for Bottom Anti Reflecting Coating) is deposited over a nitride layer according to the design or pattern of a photolithographic mask. The purpose of the BARC layer is to provide a desired level of photolithographic resolution for critical dimensions of 0.35 .beta.m or smaller. Once this step is completed, however, the BARC layer must be removed to form, for example, gates of a transistor in an integrated circuit. In addition to removing selected portions of the BARC layer, there is also the need to selectively remove portions of the nitride layer to form a transistor gate or similar structure.
The known way of removing selected portions of the BARC and nitride layers is to first etch the selected portions of the BARC layer in a first fabrication reactor chamber and then remove the semiconductor device from the chamber. Then, the etched semiconductor device is placed in a second fabrication reaction chamber where a nitride etch process takes place. This step removes the selected portion of the nitride layer.
Performing the etch of the BARC layer first in one chamber and the nitride etch in a second chamber often yields an unacceptable semiconductor device. Moreover, the logistical problems of working with two fabrication reaction chambers, as well as the time delays that the process causes, make the sequentially BARC layer etch and nitride layer etch a less than desirable way of fabricating the semiconductor device. Using known etch processes, however, prohibits combining the processes in a single fabrication reaction chamber.